This invention relates to coin handling, and more particularly to an improved coin sorter of the type that employs a rotating resilient disc working in conjunction with a stationary sorting plate.
One type of coin sorter employs a horizontal rotating disc with a resilient pad on its surface and a stationary plate above the rotating disc. The plate has surfaces and recesses that function to align coins deposited on the center of the rotating disc into a single layer and in a single file near the perimeter of the rotating disc. Once the coins are in a single file and a single layer, they are typically sorted off of the rotating disc at spaced positions about the periphery of the disc that are unique to each denomination of coin.
There are many examples of this type of coin sorter in the prior art. The examples differ primarily in the manner in which the coins are removed from the rotating disc after they have been aligned into a single file, and in whether the coins are aligned with their inner or outer edges against a shoulder or rim. U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,928 issued May 2, 1978 to Ristvedt, et al. discloses a sorter that flips the coins over a peripheral rim on the rotating disc to sort them denomination by denomination after they have been aligned against the rim. U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,280 issued July 4, 1978 to Ristvedt and Johnson, and its related Pat. No. 4,531,531 issued July 30, 1985, both disclose sorters that remove the coins from the single file by freeing coins from a pinch between the resilient pad and the stationary plate and allowing the coins to be thrown off of the rotating disc by centrifugal force at different points unique to their denomination. The single file of coins is aligned against an inwardly facing shoulder in the plate. A similar sorter is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,969 issued Oct. 1, 1985 to Rasmussen. Still another approach is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,649, issued Aug. 29, 1986, in which the coins in a single file against an outwardly facing shoulder in the plate are physically removed from the pinch at the periphery of the rotating disc by encountering stationary plows spaced about the periphery of the disc.
In the prior resilient pad sorters, the coins are aligned by being released from the pinch so that they are free to move by centrifugal force to the inwardly facing rim or shoulder, or the coins are driven against an outwardly facing shoulder which is in the path of travel of the coins. The greatest difficulty in such sorters is not in aligning the coins against a shoulder or rim, but in removing coins that have interleaved with other coins to form two or more fully or partially overlapped coins.
The coin handling apparatus of the present invention also utilizes a rotating resilient pad cooperating with a stationary plate. However, the stationary plate is provided with a series of recesses which provide an improved alignment of coins into a single layer and then to a single file by engaging the coins in a manner which reduces the overlapping or interleaving of coins as they are aligned against a shoulder in the plate. The approach of the present invention, although particularly designed for coin sorters can also be used in any coin handling equipment, such as coin counters, in which coins must be aligned into a single layer and single file before they are further processed.